Bosworth Battlefield Discovered

Posted: 2009-11-06

The site of the pivotal battle of the Wars of the Roses has finally been discovered. For many years the site of the Battle of Bosworth (or Bosworth Field, as it is sometimes known) was lost in the mists of time. Now a team of archaeoloigists and historians has discovered where the battle took place.

On 22nd August 1485 armies under King Richard III and Henry Tudor, a young Welsh nobleman, took place somewhere near the village of Stoke Golding iin Leicestershire. The conflict marked the last battle of the interminable struggle for supremacy between the ouses of York and Lancaster that we know as the Wars of the Roses. At Bosworth, Richard III was defeated, and the Tudor dynasty was born.

For centuries the battle was supposed to have been fought on Ambion Hill, but this theory has now been discredited. A four year study by archaeologists headed by the Battlefields Trust has revealed the true source of the battle and in the process discovered finds which have changed historian's views about medieval warfare.

Among the finds unearthed are 22 lead roundshot, more than the combined number of roundshot from all the 15th and 16th century battlefields of Europe put together. This is the largest find of medieval cannonballs in Europe. This roundshot is as large as 93mm, indicating the the development of artillery and handheld guns was far more advanced than was previously thought.

The site of the battlefield lies between the villages of Dadlington, Shenton, Upton and Stoke Golding. The exact location is not yet revealed, to protect the site against damage from eager treasure-seekers before it can be fully studied. It also appears that Crown Hill, in the parish of Stoke Golding, was the site where Henry Tudor was crowned King Henry VII of England.